The deep recession pushed Switzerland's unemployment rate to its highest level in more than a decade in August, sending a staunch reminder the economy may face a bumpy road to recovery. Unemployment rose to 4.0 percent when adjusted for seasonal swings from 3.9 percent in June, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said on Tuesday.
This was the highest since May 1998 and in line with economists' expectations in a Reuters survey. The unadjusted rate also ticked up to 3.8 percent in August, with the total number of jobless rising to 150,831. At the same time, the number of vacancies fell to 13,353.
"The figures were more or less as expected. The business cycle is quite good in Switzerland but the labour market is lagging this good cycle," said ZKB economist David Marmet. A survey by staffing firm Manpower published on Tuesday showed that 10 percent of Swiss employers expect to cut staff, while 7 percent expect to hire, with the employment indicator at minus 3 points, its lowest since the survey began in 2005.